Mid-America Plans $150Mln in Sunbelt Multifamily Deals       Tuesday, 09 February 2010 Commercial Real Estate Direct Staff Report Mid-America Apartment Communities Inc. has paid $76.3 million for two Texas multifamily properties and expects to invest another $150 million for properties in Sunbelt states this year. The Memphis, Tenn., REIT paid $46.5 million for the 479-unit Legacy at Western Oaks in Austin, which was sold by Rreef, and it paid $29.8 million for the recently-opened Broadstone Westover Hills in San Antonio, sold by its developer, Alliance Residential Co. of Phoenix. Mid-America made the acquisitions on behalf of its Mid-America Multifamily Fund II, a joint venture with Thackeray Partners, a Dallas investment manager. The REIT holds a 33 percent stake in the venture, which was launched last June with plans to make $250 million of multifamily acquisitions. The venture has been targeting properties whose performance can be improved through physical changes, new management approaches and/or restructuring in-place financing. Mid-America's anticipated $150 million of deal volume this year will include more transactions for the venture and ones it does on its own. Albert M. Campbell, director of financial planning, told analysts in a conference call last week that the REIT will sell stock and tap the debt markets as needed to raise money for the acquisitions. The company relies heavily on financing from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The REIT's only looming debt maturity this year is a $50 million bank credit facility, which it is expected to renew before it matures in May. It also is in talks with lenders for financing to replace its $180 million of debt that matures in mid- to late 2011. The two Texas deals are expected to generate an internal rate of return of 13 to 13.5 percent, according to H. Eric Bolton, Mid-America's chief executive. He noted that the San Antonio acquisition was the REIT's first in that market, and he hopes to find more deals there this year. He added that Mid-America will be looking to buy in all of the Sunbelt markets where it already owns properties, and cited Dallas, Houston, Austin and Charlotte, N.C., as being among its preferred areas. Bolton also said that Phoenix and South Florida "may provide some of the best buying opportunities over the coming years" because they are likely to have the highest concentrations of sellers under financial distress.